Air NZ have advised that the 747 aircraft was not hit and the lightning bolt was way beyond the aircraft which was stationary at the terminal. The photo makes it look as if it was hit. The aircraft departed on scheduled time despite the violent storm.

Thats the theory..in practice the intial strike has to take the full energy of the discharge..beacause alu is not a perfect conductor a lot of that energy disrupts the metal which melts and ignites. When the machine is off the ground that energy is dissapated to the surrounding moist air, when the machine is on the ground there is not the volume of water filled air to take the charge. No..had this bolt struck the alu it would have blown a hole in it. In the old days when machines used gasoline the risk was high...modern machines burning kero mixes are at much less risk. If some of you are in disagreement then please look the subject up.

Moreover that is a big advantage that composites have over metals. They are non conductive so if a charge is applied to them it can only create a little surface heat and if that surface is wet then the water immediatadely boils off and stops the conductive path. Part of the commercial pilot quals should include some engineering tuition because the it is clear to me a lot of you know zilch about the basics.